talentum
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “a weight; talent”), from Proto-Indo-European *tl̥h₂ent-, from *telh₂-. In post-Classical Latin, the term was used figuratively to refer to a gift from God in general, influenced by the biblical Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30); the medieval sense “skill, ability” is an extension of this usage.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /taˈlen.tum/, [t̪äˈɫ̪ɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /taˈlen.tum/, [t̪äˈlɛn̪t̪um]
Noun
talentum n (genitive talentī); second declension
- A Grecian weight, which contained sixty minae or half a hundredweight.
- A talent or sum of money; usually the Attic talent (sometimes with magnum).
- Vīgintī talentiīs ūnam ōrātiōnem Īsocratēs vēndidit.
- Isocrates sold one oration for twenty talents.
- (Late Latin, figuratively) A gift from God, grace.
- (Medieval Latin, New Latin, by extension) A marked natural skill or ability.
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | talentum | talenta |
| Genitive | talentī | talentōrum |
| Dative | talentō | talentīs |
| Accusative | talentum | talenta |
| Ablative | talentō | talentīs |
| Vocative | talentum | talenta |
Derived terms
- talentārius
Descendants
- Catalan: talent
- English: talent
- French: talent
- Friulian: talent
- Italian: talento
- Piedmontese: talent
- Portuguese: talento, tento, talante
- Spanish: talento
References
- “talentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- talentum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “talentum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
- “talentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “talentum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- talentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “talentum”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, OCLC 1369101
- Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “talentum”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 1012
- Hitzl, Konrad (2002), “Talent”, in Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, volume 14, →ISBN, page 121